Grow Your Business By Writing Articles And White Papers, Part 1 of 2

What a "white paper" is and what it can do for you.

(Shel Horowitz's Frugal Marketing Tip, November, 2001)

I'm going to start this month's tip by quoting (with permission, of course) a post by Tom Kuegler to the I-Sales Discussion List

While we brought up white papers and their effectiveness, I wanted throw out a few stats from a project I did a while ago.

While working for a CRM [Customer Relations Management] company, my team and I used a white paper as the sole source of lead generation. We gave the white paper away, but required registration. We then had an elaborate lead routing and follow-up process for the sales team.

Within thirty days of promoting and publishing this white paper, the lead flow increased from 300 leads per month to 5000 and ROI [return on investment] on marketing went from 1:1 to 8:1.

I am a big believer in white paper marketing and have seen similar results on multiple projects.

(Thomas J. Kuegler Jr. is General Partner of Porthos Consulting. Tom is the author of Web Advertising and Marketing.)

Now, my comments... A white paper is a substantial investment in research and writing time. It's highly detailed, a strategic document. Yes, white papers can work well, especially if you're a technological leader with information that your clients need but don't have. Yet, creating white papers as a sales tool is not for everyone.

However, if you have any writing skill at all, you can write an article. Like the white paper, it should help your prospects gain information and solve problems. But unlike a white paper, it doesn't have to take a lot of your time.

I'm betting that you can write at least five good articles, 500 to 1500 words, with information you already have—and use them to promote your business. But start with one article, which you should be able to write in an hour or two. Write in a conversational, accessible style; just pretend you're talking to a friend—and focus on the point you want to get across. And yes, the article can promote your goods and services, but the sales pitch is cloaked in the helpful, useful information that your prospects need. Include a blurb at the end that gives your contact information (including your website of course) and a line or so about how you can help your prospects.

Once you've written the article, have someone read it for grammar and spelling errors, and to make sure it's clear, concise, and to the point. (DON'T skip this step!) Now, you're ready to use it for marketing—and that's what we'll talk about next month.

Thank you reading this back issue of Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, published every month since May, 1997; please click here to view the complete archives, grouped by subject. Shel is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site. Please click here to contact Shel.


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